“What does your gut tell you?” Lydia asked.
“That it was a mistake to let Ellen see him.”
Lydia stared at her long and hard. “You don’t mean that.”
Anne Marie sighed. “No, I don’t. Ellen’s become a different child since she met Tim and learned he’s her father.” The painfully shy, reticent little girl had blossomed before Anne Marie’s eyes. Tim’s love had a lot to do with that transformation. Ellen’s eyes lit up every time she saw her father.
“In my opinion—and this is just my opinion—you need to acknowledge that you still have feelings for him.”
Anne Marie opened her mouth to ardently object—and then hesitated. If nothing else, the incident on Saturday proved how much she continued to care about Tim, despite all her efforts not to. For months she’d buried her feelings for him, not realizing how ineffective those attempts had been.
“I’m dating Mel now.” Mel was her future, not Tim.
“Mel,” Lydia murmured.
“Yes, Mel. He’s generous and … and kind and sweet.” She knew she was trying too hard to convince Lydia.
“Yes,” Lydia agreed softly. Holding Anne Marie’s gaze, she said, “But he isn’t Tim Carlsen.”
“Tim couldn’t care less about me. By his own admission, the only reason he has anything to do with me is Ellen.” Her voice cracked and she struggled to hold on to her composure.
Lydia glanced up from her knitting and, again, leaned forward to press her hand over Anne Marie’s. “Don’t be so sure. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
Six
April 26
Something’s wrong with Mom. I don’t think she likes the new house and I think she misses the apartment. I thought I’d hate living away from Blossom Street, but I don’t. April isn’t in my class, but we go to the same school. I didn’t know that. She said I could sit with her on the bus and I promised to teach her to knit. Mom gave me a pair of needles and some yarn and I’m going to show April. I told her it feels awkward at first but it won’t take long to figure it out. She thought it was great that I knit Baxter’s green sweater. She wants to knit one for Iris and I told her she could, but she should start with something easier. She’s going to knit a pot holder for her mom. I knit one for my mom and she really likes it.
“Can April stay for dinner?” Ellen asked Anne Marie the minute they walked in the door Monday night. Her daughter and her new friend had played at April’s house after school that afternoon. The two girls had been inseparable since they’d met on Saturday.
Anne Marie was delighted Ellen had made a friend so quickly. Even better, they attended the same school, although they had different teachers. They’d become instant friends, the way kids did at that age.
“Ah …” Anne Marie had no idea what to prepare. “Sure, April can have dinner here, as long as it’s all right with her mom and dad.”
“It is,” Ellen told her. “We already asked.”
Anne Marie did a thorough search of her kitchen cupboards. She’d gone to the store and stocked their shelves, and she could cook any number of dishes—but she couldn’t decide on even one. That showed how depressed she was; she wasn’t capable of making such a simple decision. Of course there was always the old standby. “How about macaroni and cheese?”’
“We had that for lunch,” Ellen called back.
Well, the freezer was her next option. She was about to check it when her cell phone buzzed. Sorting through the packages of frozen food, she answered it.
“Hello.”
“What are you two doing for dinner?” Mel asked.
“I don’t know yet. Why?”
“I thought I’d stop by and take you and Ellen out to eat.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think that’ll work. Ellen invited her new friend over.”
“She has a new friend already?”
“She does. April lives down the street. She found Baxter on Saturday, which is when we met her.”
“Why don’t I bring dinner?”
This was an offer too good to refuse. “Sounds great. What do you have in mind?”
Mel chuckled. “How about if I pick up one of those roasted chickens with all the fixings?”
“Thanks!” Mel was so thoughtful—and he’d just solved the problem of tonight’s dinner.
“I figured you must be exhausted after last weekend.”
“I am.” The move had taken more out of Anne Marie than she’d realized. That, and what she’d learned about Tim’s feelings toward her.
As soon as she’d closed her cell, she walked down the hall to Ellen’s room, where the girls were playing with Baxter and Iris. “Mel’s coming by with dinner. He’s bringing chicken. Would you two set the table?”
Ellen and April exchanged a glance. “Who’s Mel?” April asked.
“He’s my mother’s boyfriend,” Ellen replied.
“I thought Tim was your mother’s boyfriend,” April said, cocking her head.
“He used to be but he isn’t anymore. It’s … complicated.”
“Yeah, grown-ups can get that way,” April said sagely.
Smiling, Anne Marie returned to the kitchen.
By the time Mel arrived with dinner, the table was set. They all sat down together with Baxter and Iris settled underneath, content after their own meals.
“Anyone miss me on Blossom Street?” Ellen asked Anne Marie. She reached for a chicken leg; April took the second one.
“Lydia sends her love. Oh, and Bethanne was in the yarn store on Saturday and guess what? Andrew and Courtney got engaged.”
Ellen’s eyes brightened and she waved the chicken leg. “Can I be in their wedding? I want to be the flower girl!”
“That’s not something you ask,” Anne Marie explained. “You wait to be invited. But Courtney has several nieces and nephews your age.”
Ellen put the chicken leg back on her plate and sighed with disappointment. “I love weddings.”
“I know you do.”
“I was in a wedding once,” April said. “But I was only three and I don’t remember it. My mom has pictures, though. I was supposed to sprinkle rose petals down the church aisle but I ate them instead.”
Anne Marie and Mel laughed.
“Let’s play weddings after dinner!” April said excitedly. “We can be wedding planners like on TV.”
“Okay!”
Conversation flowed smoothly during the rest of the meal. They talked about television shows and upcoming movies, and Anne Marie appreciated Mel’s lack of condescension, his good-humored patience with the girls. Afterward, they asked to be excused and tore back into Ellen’s bedroom, while Mel and Anne Marie lingered over coffee.
“Thank you for bringing dinner,” Anne Marie said.
“I wasn’t here to help with the move like I’d planned. It’s the least I could do.”
“Mel, I understood. You had a business meeting.”